Eastern front. Scheduled for 2013. I've read the scans. I'm not clear entirely on if it's a new game engine from the ground up, or if they just made some major enhancements. Even though COH is 6 years old, it still looks great, imho. It was to some extent maybe ahead of its time in terms of what the average RTS gamer was using in 2006.

Well shit. Looks like I was wrong. I thought they would do Dawn of War 3 first since Company of Heroes 1 sold very poorly.

Still, more Eastern Front love is a good thing.

last I heard they were working on DoW3. Couldn't they develop an engine for use with both of them and have separate teams work on them simultaneously? or did they lose the license in THQ's recent troubles?

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Company of Heroes 2 takes the fight to the snow-filled fields of the Eastern Front as players command the Soviet Red Army during the World’s darkest hour. It is the year 1941, and the forces of Germany have just begun Operation Barbarossa, as they push East to conquer Russia in what would become the costliest conflict of the war. It is up to you, commander of the Russian Red Army, to push back the Nazi invaders and free Mother Russia!

Company of Heroes 2 raises the bar of the standard in PC Real Time Strategy. Powered by the new Essence 3.0 Engine, Company of Heroes 2 features incredible graphic fidelity and cutting-edge technology. With the unprecedented new TrueSight™ system, fog of war is no longer a guessing game as unit visibility on the battlefield relies on true and proper line of sight.

The tactical and dynamic combat system that strategy gamers know and love from the original Company of Heroes returns, and now it’s bigger and better than ever. With the new Commander Abilities found in Company of Heroes 2, players will develop and utilize their abilities in intense new tactical warfare situations. Players will get to experience the up-close moment-to-moment brutality of the war on the Eastern Front through new Dynamic Battle Tactics.

One of the most intense and competitive online experiences returns with Company of Heroes 2 multiplayer! The vicious online combat that thousands of gamers enjoy every day with the original Company of Heroes is bigger than ever featuring competitive and co-operative modes that deliver the intense experiences that fans have come to expect.

Here's the oficiale press release, note a phrase that if you're not fond of neverending DLC will make your blood run cold ("post-launch digital content plan" ).

-THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) today announced that a sequel to its critically acclaimed strategy game Company of Heroes® is scheduled to be taking gamers to the frozen frontlines of war in Russia in early 2013.

“Company of Heroes 2 is a true successor, introducing a new front, new protagonists and new technology while retaining the unique mix of strategic gameplay and competitive multiplayer that made the original Company of Heroes such a success.”

As a true sequel, this game moves the battle away from the common Western Front focus of World War II and refocuses on some of history’s most brutal and devastating conflicts on the Eastern Front, challenging players to take command of the iconic Red Army and repel the Nazi invaders from the very gates of Moscow.

Company of Heroes 2 utilizes Relic® Entertainment’s state of the art proprietary Essence 3.0 EngineTM to bring new technological advancements to the strategy genre in the form of innovative Dynamic Battle Tactics, increased graphical fidelity and new environmental destruction, ultimately putting the player in control with new Commander Abilities.

Greg Wilson, Producer at Relic Entertainment commented, “Company of Heroes 2 is a true successor, introducing a new front, new protagonists and new technology while retaining the unique mix of strategic gameplay and competitive multiplayer that made the original Company of Heroes such a success.”

Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President of Core Games commented, “We are excited to announce a sequel to one of THQ’s best loved properties. Company of Heroes 2 will deliver an amazing strategy experience along with a strong post-launch digital content plan that enhances and expands the product’s lifecycle.”

Since virtually everything in Company of Heroes already was destructible, I'm curious about this "new environmental destruction" they tout.

-Snow plays a major part on the battlefield, falling and melting dynamically, and slowing your soldiers and tanks based on its depth.-The game runs on the Essence 3 engine, the latest version of the graphics engine Relic have been updating and expanding upon for years.-The cover system has been revamped, to function more realistically and allow soldiers to vault over obstacles.-Line of sight plays a large tactical role, with the game’s fog of war based on what your soldier’s can actually see. Relic call this system “True Sight”, and it causes areas of the map to be grayed out and enemies within turned invisible by buildings, items of cover, or dropped smoke grenades.

I thought with modern combat all the rage right now, they might move the series there (in a fictional scenario probably, one that would have a need for tank vs. tank warfare).

I remember numerous fan-mod projects that talked about doing that but afik (not that I was paying attention in recent years), none really ever came to fruition. It's kind of a shame they didn't make the game a bit more mod-friendly. I think they eventually released an SDK but it didn't seem like Relic did much to give mod teams guidance and support per se.

GON: How did you go about conveying that sense of brutality and sacrifice in-game?

Simon Watts: Some of the battles were truly horrific, with casualties numbering in the millions, so obviously portraying that – capturing the immense brutality of these conflicts – was a difficult task for us. One thing we’ve done in the game to try and convey that is in the way we tell the story. In Company of Heroes 2 we’re actually telling the narrative through the eyes of a war journalist, so not only do you get the perspective of the commanders and high level functionaries, but also the front line troops – so you can see what it’s like for the soldiers who had to face the harsh realities of war at the ground level.GON:Will there just be two factions, or will we be able to play as the UK or the US, or others? Will minor players in the Axis be involved at all (Romania, Italy, etc.)?==========Simon Watts: The single-player campaign is the story of the Red Army vs. the Axis invaders. It’s important to point out that the Axis forces that invaded Russia was very different from the Axis army on the Western Front. They had different vehicles, different equipment, different tactics. It’s a very different Axis army than the one in the first game.

We’re not talking about multiplayer just yet so I can’t go into detail about the different factions beyond that, unfortunately. [I suspect this means there'll be other factions in MP for the sake of variety?-bj]=======GON: Much of the game will be fought in the freezing cold. How will that be represented mechanically in the game?

Simon Watts: One thing we’ve done is make the snow dynamic. The movement of your infantry and vehicles is affected by how much snow there is on the ground, but you can use flamethrowers to melt it or explosives to clear a path.

In addition to that, your troops and vehicles will also leave permanent tracks in the snow, which the enemy can use to find you – so that’s something you have to keep an eye on.========GON: What are the chief differences between the German and Russian armies in terms of composition and technology?

Simon Watts: The German army is very much a technology-based army. Conversely, the Russian army is more about brute force in numbers, and we’ve reflected that in the game. [To oversimplify, the Germans are the Protoss and the Russians are the Zerg ]========GON: Are the differences between the armies reflected tactically? As the Russians, will we be encouraged to adopt the (often suicidal) strategies actually employed at the time?

Simon Watts: Yes, you’ll find there a bunch of abilities that the Russians have that reflect the composition of their army. On top of that, Russian troops – although not as well-equipped as the Germans – will be cheaper to produce and replace. We’ve also looked at some of the more famous Russian military doctrines, such as Order 227 whereby retreat without authorisation was punishable by death.

The other factions in multiplayer are probably the various minor Axis and Soviet allies.

Some examples are:RomaniansFinnsHungariansItalians

Otherwise, they might break down some forces down to various actual companies, or styles.

They're also not kidding about the kind of stuff seen on the Eastern Front, as well as the combat that happened there just being dramatically different. These were two nightmare regimes pitted against each other.

Most real-time strategy games simply illuminate a circle of the battlefield around each unit, to show what that soldier or vehicle would be able to see from the ground. Company of Heroes 2 presents a fog of war that looks like a living, reactive force. If you move a company of soldiers through a group of trees, the trees will obscure what you can see in front of you.

What would block the soldiers’ sight from the ground blocks your sight as you watch them from above. During one battle a tank explodes, and the smoke that billows into the sky blocks out the entire road behind it, allowing both sides to hide from the other. It’s hard to describe, but the shifting, malleable effect of the fog of war is impressive in action.

Company of Heroes 2 shows you just how much you see in most other real-time strategy games, and both sides are able to use this new fog of war system to to their advantage. In many situations it’s simply impossible to see what’s in front of you, and the terrain, smoke, and buildings become an important part of how and when you move....Making sure the feel of the combat is right was more important than modeling every rivet on a tank, and from what I’ve seen and played the game does a brilliant job of making you feel the desperation and brutality of fighting on the Eastern Front. To put it bluntly, it’s good at making you feel bad.

The sound of the small arms fire was recorded live using the actual weapons, and this gives the sound design the punch you’re used to from a first-person shooter; it’s much more immediate than most RTS games. They used as many as 20 microphones to record the firing of each weapon, and the results were worth the trouble. This is a game that explores a piece of military history that American audiences aren’t used to seeing, and offers a number of technological achievements to highlight why the Eastern Front was such a horrific period in World War II.

It also mentions if you damage enemy vehicles to the point they abandon them, you can take them over (if they have haven't been fully destroyed).

While I can't wait, my gut feeling is like Company of Heroes (probably the highest scoring game at Metacritic to not become a mass market hit sales-wise), this just won't draw the masses. It's not going to move Starcraft 2 numbers. imho, the jury's out on the RTS genre as a whole at this point. I don't think I've touched SC2 since early 2011, and I don't much bother with RTSs in general anymore -- some years, it was ALL I played. It'll be interesting to see how CoH2 and Bioware's C&C: Generals game do.

Given their financial troubles, I'm surprised THQ is even bankrolling CoH2 at all. But dangit, I wanna play it, and I appreciate that they're going for the fences, they're innovating, they're not standing pat. I just hope they're still standing once the game's done.

They're reusing a lot of tech and working on something they know how to make.

The engine is the Space Marine engine, the gameplay is very close to CoH1 with notable additions. They also know exactly how many people are interested in buying this.

This sounds like a relatively safe bet of a game.

+1. I know I'm in.

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A Pew Research Center poll found nearly half of Americans hold the false belief that TARP was passed under President Obama, while only 34 percent know it originated under Bush."Oh yeah?" Bush replied. "50% of the people were wrong."

On the screen the troops are doing an odd, open-legged walk through the snow. It’s doing more than encumbering them: to the right is a temperature guage, and when it bottoms out the troops start succumbing to the winter. One stops and curls up in the snow, dead before a gun is fired. Is this really a strategy game?

Duffy points out, “We talk about authenticity, it’s not about getting every bolt right in a tank or being accurate to a degree. It’s about tone and experience. We don’t have the simulation depth of a super-hardcore combat game, but what we offer is immersion. In Company of Heroes, when we set a goal of capturing the realism, a lot of it starts with presentation. And then you have figure out how to build a game to support that. So we have this cool gameplay element, how do we build the visuals to support that, that don’t take us into a level of abstraction?”

Lead Animator Brett Pascal chips in: “The presentation can bridge the gap. We’ve got a good gap between the facts and occurrences of the war and the realistic nature of what the combat was, and putting an entertaining skin on it as well.”

So while you can die under the frosty horror of the minus 40 degree Russian winter, you can fight it off was well. The cold has to be a defeatable adversary. Cover provides protection from a bullet as well as a pocket of warmth to allow the foot soldiers to cuddle up. There are firelighters in the squad that can set up a recuperative little hollow of heat. I’m fascinated by the odd dynamic: the squad are hunkered down, trying to keep warm while a few feet away a tank starts to fire; they’re cowering, not from the fight, but from the cold. It’s scarier than the Third Reich.

even better, the ice can play a role too:

Quote

So there’s pervasive permafrost to engage, as well as the occasional blizzard that will add more snow. Under a blizzard your troops will freeze faster, and your air-strikes can’t operate. Cover and buildings will help mitigate the effects, as will vehicles. But those pose their own challenges against the weather. Augmenting the squad’s clumsy trudging are people carriers and tanks. Tanks, so often the solution to all life’s problems, suffer from the tracks losing traction across ice, but their weight poses bigger problems. Find a frozen river and there’s no guarantee it’ll support the tank’s tonnage, but daring commanders might see the opportunity, as Duffy points out. “It’s a dangerous surface. We all know how fragile ice can be. It’s also a life-saving surface. During the siege of Leningrad, when they brought trucks across the lake, that was one of the only ways to supply the city. So for us it’s a barrier, but it also allows access. Conditionally, it’s slippery, it’s dangerous.”

On the ice, the tanks leave a trail of cracks behind, but it remains solid until a huge blast from off screen rocks the battle. The tanks vanish into the exposed water, a smiling Duffy points out, “Ice is a fully destructible layer. It’s also a very dynamic layer, so this area of the map that’s destroyed now will eventually refreeze. It can be destroyed and refreeze again, so players can adjust how they move around.”

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Cold-tech’s most obvious integration comes in how it changes the default route your troops take across the battlefield. They naturally move along the path of less resistance, avoiding areas of deep, soft snow that make walking slow and instead focus on the compacted snow of roads and smaller footpaths. This is knowledge common to both sides, however, and it’s likely that easier paths will be flooded with landmines and small squads of enemy troops waiting to ambush the unwary.

Weighing up which route to take clearly plays a big part in the way the game plays out and, even more so than in the first game, will determine which tactics you can realistically employ. At times, as showcased in the demo, you’ll need to face the dangers of the open road because the alternative option is just too slow.

Troops can become a ‘casualty of weather’, with each squad coming equipped with a thermometer icon signalling their resistance to the cold. If the thermometer drops below a certain level individual soldiers drop to the floor and die, let the practice continue long enough and whole squad will be consumed.

Your best bet when it comes to keeping them healthy is to avoid open areas that are consistently battered by the wind, take shelter behind cover whenever possible and to light fires at preset camps. None of those options result in the thermometer rising back up to a healthy level, but they do prevent it from dropping any lower.

Not sure how I feel about some of that. I mean, having to light fires for your troops and watch a thermometer (!) on EACH squad seems like veering a bit into excessive micro-managing territory even if I like the snow-impact ideas. What next? Cut their fingertips off when they get frostbite? Get them to huddle under a blanket and rub their hands together, and sing songs? Direct them to urinate on the snow to soften it? I don't want Company of Heroes to turn into Company of The Sims...

In my hands-on time with a demo at PAX, the poor weather was a constant factor in survival. A combat engineer became indispensable, not just for constructing standard buildings, but for scouting ahead to build fires at key points on the map. Without precious fire, the infantry would freeze to death -- once an infantry unit's gauge drops below a certain point, they'll die without a single bullet fired.

Vehicles and buildings can provide relief from the cold. Even finding some cover will keep land units from dropping further, but it won't warm them up either. The most complex army strategies will fail without a basic handle on survival tactics.

The cold conditions also impact movement in some key ways. Thick snow will impact infantry units, forcing them to trudge through slowly. Frozen-over lake beds provide a thick layer of ice that can be stepped across easily enough with lighter units, but might crack under the weight of a heavy tank. In fact, leading enemies into cracked ice is a perfectly cruel way to use the environment to your advantage.

I'm still not sure I buy all this "weather conditions micro-management" as "fun" gameplay. Is that really the kind of thing that's going to draw more people to the franchise or back into RTSs in general?

What's next? Have to dig porta potties so all your soldiers can urinate and poop in peace? Do oil and filter changes on your truck's engines? Maybe lubricate your tanks' tread wheels? Or maybe (similar to Han Solo in TESB) gut a horse and stick your officer inside his carcass to keep him warm?

Pre-order customers of the Standard Edition will receive special vehicle skins that feature historically-accurate patterns, as well as first access to the Company of Heroes 2 Beta when it launches! In addition to these incentives, customers who pre-order through Steam will be enrolled into the exclusive Steam Pre-Purchase Tiered Reward Program, which will deliver various unlocks as pre-orders progress.

The Digital Collector’s Edition is available for $99.99, and will include the first three single player “Content Packs” as they become available, in addition to the Command Pass, exclusive heavy tank skins, and a Veteran badge that displays on the player’s in-game profile. Digital Collector’s edition customers will also receive the original Company of Heroes base game and both of its expansion packs! Pre-order today to take advantage of these exclusive offers!

God save us from Steam's decision to become Kickstarter Jr. with the unlock tiers, and Relic's newfound obsession with Content Packs and a shopTHQ store. I knew Space Marine had all that stuff, and I guess the idea of some continued COH2 content is fun but you know, is it really gonna make more non hardcore RTS-fans buy the game?

And apparently, Relic had so many exclamation points, they hardly knew what the hell to do with them all!!!!!!!!!

One last burst of sarcasm...

While the price is certainly in line with big publisher titles (so many big ones are pricing new titles at $59.99, I feel like it's the early 1990s and I'm buying Sega Genesis titles that all cost $59.99), I can't help wishing some of the Relic COH crew broke off and did a $20-$30 COH knockoff. I bet that'd sell like crazy (Torchlight with Tanks), whereas the price here will probably be a barrier to it being the blockbuster Relic needs it to be. imho.

I got too much else to play this fall, and I need proof this is more than just COH with possibly annoying weather and terrain effects.

something just occurred to me: considering how quickly THQ PC games go on sale I'd be dumb to not wait a month or so for such a sale. for example: Darksiders 2. came out August 13th and already at least half off. same thing with Saints Row the Third- out 11-15 and by the new year it was already being offered at half off.

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A few, but many more are "$59.99" like Borderlands 2, but really go on sale for less before release... in any case, I guess I won't be getting at release if that's the case. But certainly happy to buy at $40 or even $50 maybe at release.

*This offer is separate from the rewards offer below and will be available to all customers who pre-purchase on Steam.===============================

Reward 1Exclusive Company of Heroes 2 TF2 Items

German Cap and BadgeThis German Officer’s Cap and Badge tells the world you’re the ruthless commander of a juggernaut army and not to be trifled with!Soviet Cap and BadgeThis Soviet Commander’s Cap and Badge lets everyone know you’ve led thousands of troops through some of the bloodiest battles on the Eastern Front of WW2, in style!

Reward 2Everything Above, Plus:

A Free copy of Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution!* Already own Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II: Retribution? Gift a copy to your friend.

I'm not ready to commit yet. Honestly, in recent years, I just go into this gaming funk early in the year towards spring and I seem to go months without playing anything. Apparently I'm a "seasonal gamer," so I'd like to see what season we can expect Company of Heroes 2.

Additional changes to fiscal 2013 release dates include those for Company of Heroes® 2 and Metro: Last Light, both of which are expected to ship in March, later than initially planned.

“When I joined THQ the company made a public commitment to quality titles. We always expected that in some cases this would mean that more time would be needed to make sure that every title is of the highest possible quality,” said Jason Rubin, THQ’s President. “Our fourth quarter releases are the first titles that I have had the ability to materially impact, and experience told me that the games needed additional development time to be market-ready. ...Company of Heroes was one of the highest rated RTS titles in history, and Relic insists that the sequel live up to its pedigree. Giving both [COH2 and Metro] of these titles time to reach their full potential is the right thing to do for the products."

Although THQ still lost $21M in 2012's 3rd quarter, that's a lot better than its $92M loss a year earlier. So it seems like perhaps they're at least steering away from financial oblivion a bit.

My first match involved me initially Zerg-rushing basic engineers to all the capture points. However, my foothold soon crumbled under the weight of Soviet sniper bullets.

It’s now worth mentioning two of the new features being implemented for the sequel; a new line-of-sight system (dubbed “TrueSight”) and the dynamic weather. Large objects in the world can now block your unit’s effective LOS until they move into a position where the object no longer obscures their view of a particular part of the terrain, opening up ambushing opportunities.

This, in combination with the random blizzards that now appear, was the saving grace of my veteran engineer unit when it came under fire from enemy snipers. The sudden snowstorm reduced the range of the snipers and I was able to retreat back to safety behind a bunch of trees to wait for reinforcements.

But if the bullets didn’t kill them, the cold definitely did. I found out the hard way that leaving infantry idling in a blizzard without basking them in the warmth of a building or fire is a reliable way to ensure their torturous virtual death.

I wonder if there's a "Meteorologist" unit that runs around yelling "Partly Cloudy! Cold front on the horizon! Wind coming in from the SE! Wintry mix!"

My first match involved me initially Zerg-rushing basic engineers to all the capture points. However, my foothold soon crumbled under the weight of Soviet sniper bullets.

It’s now worth mentioning two of the new features being implemented for the sequel; a new line-of-sight system (dubbed “TrueSight”) and the dynamic weather. Large objects in the world can now block your unit’s effective LOS until they move into a position where the object no longer obscures their view of a particular part of the terrain, opening up ambushing opportunities.

This, in combination with the random blizzards that now appear, was the saving grace of my veteran engineer unit when it came under fire from enemy snipers. The sudden snowstorm reduced the range of the snipers and I was able to retreat back to safety behind a bunch of trees to wait for reinforcements.

But if the bullets didn’t kill them, the cold definitely did. I found out the hard way that leaving infantry idling in a blizzard without basking them in the warmth of a building or fire is a reliable way to ensure their torturous virtual death.

I wonder if there's a "Meteorologist" unit that runs around yelling "Partly Cloudy! Cold front on the horizon! Wind coming in from the SE! Wintry mix!"

Ok....so I have nothing to say thanks to an NDA, but I've spent the last few hours playing a single map Alpha and well...it sure the hell doesn't look or play like an Alpha. If the rest of the product matches what I've seen so far, they could release it right now. The AI is smart, they keep pressure on, and damn if they don't know how to handle mixed unit tactics and counter your build if you just run down a single tech. (i.e. "I'll just make tanks!" The enemy will eventually catch on after a few skirmishes (it doesn't seem omnipotent) and start bringing flamethrowers, rockets, and anti-tank goodies to the field.) You have EVERY reason to be excited on this one....

“We are thrilled to have Relic Entertainment join the SEGA family. The acquisition is a strategic fit and a critical step in growing our business,” John Cheng, President and CFO, SEGA of America said. “They are a well-respected studio with a pedigree for making creative and innovative games and we look forward to seeing what great things we can create together over the coming years.”

SEGA already owns three development companies in the U.S. and Europe, and is progressing to support compatibility with the rapidly expanding online games field, such as PC online games, smartphone games and social games. As a result of the THQ Canada acquisition, SEGA will further advance the provision of various appealing entertainment contents by utilizing THQ Canada’s high-end content development capabilities and accumulated development know-how, and increase SEGA’s presence in the PC online game market.

Company of Heroes 2's game director posted this "form letter" to various community fan sites:

The good news is that Relic and Company of Heroes 2 are intact. Relic will continue moving forward with Company of Heroes 2, but we have some gaps on our team in the short term. As you know we’re without our community manager, Bobby. Special thanks to him for his tireless efforts and the great rapport he built in the COH community.

What’s next? I can only personally speculate that Relic has unique value for Sega; that they liked what we were doing, and that they will want us to continue what we are doing. I know they’re excited. Apart from that, we don’t have a lot we can talk about yet – if you can use Google, you likely have the same information we do. We promise we’ll try to tackle the transition as efficiently as possible so that we can get back to Company of Heroes 2 as quickly as we can.

The team is raring to go, we’re as happy as we can be about our situation, and COH2 is looking and feeling better every day. Our joy at being able to continue on the game we love is tempered with concern for our colleagues at THQ and other studios but as clichéd as it may sound, the show must go on.

Relicnews also mentioned Relic's studio head Alex Peters (I never heard of him either) left for Activision.